IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

Sorry to interrupt the vacation post but I have important and very exciting news. I just received a phone call from Millersville University. They have accepted me into their Pre-Medicine program.

Disney In November (days 3 and 4)

I keep trying to make this quick but it's hard because we do so much every day. Day three we went to Disney/MGM and had a blast. They even talked me into going on Rockin' Rollercoaster, which if you know me at all, you'll know I'm terrified of thrill rides. However I found to my surprise that I really, really enjoyed it. In fact one of these days we're here we are going to finish the stuff we missed at MGM and I'm going to ride it again.



Also for any of you who wonder why there are so many pics of the girls and not as many of the boys I'll tell you, it boils down to this: the boys are big enough that they want to do their thing and their thing does not include posing for their mama.

Disney In November (days 1 and 2)

Yes, we're in Disney again. This time on our dime. We drove down to Florida on Turkey day, spent the night in Daytona Beach and then scooted on over to Disney. The ride wasn't bad at all. The kids kept pretty entertained and there was minimal traffic.

Here's where we stayed in Daytona. It was literally right on the beach.



MD and I went for a walk first thing in the morning. Her daughter A went jogging and then S3 and his bud C went for a swim in their shorts. The air was cool but the water was very warm.







We went to Epcot around lunch time and I think we managed to do all the rides in one half of the park. My feet sure think we did anyway.

Finding Nemo



Mickey plays peek-a-boo with Ty at the Garden Grill.





Today we headed to the Magic Kingdom where we rode nearly every ride there. Seriously. We kept hitting the lines just right so while we had to wait, it was never too long. E fell asleep on the bus ride back to the hotel. Random pics from today:









When we rode "It's a Small World" I tried to get a quick picture of Steve and the girls. Apparently Steve had other plans because it took us three tries before he stopped fooling around long enough to get a nice pic.







Ok, last picture for tonight; I'm beat. Sorry the quality is bad. It's from my phone. I think I'll probably be back to blog again on Monday. Good night!!!

Happy Veteran's Day

Thank you to all who have served. From my family:

BIL Jer, Army
Pop, Army (Vietnam)
Gramps, Navy (WW2, Pacific)
Grandpop, Army (WW2, Europe)
Steve's Papaw, Army (Korea)

My dad

Gramps

Future Engineer

Ty made this while he was waiting for the bus this morning. Right now only it's arms move but he told me his next goal is to get it's jaw to be mobile.

New MasterCard Commercial

Oops, He Did It Again

Remember when Ty was in first grade and he went camping with his grandparents? He fell off that piece of playground equipment and broke his left arm. My FIL captured it all on his camera.

Well as you may have guessed by the title of this post, he did it again. Similar piece of playground equipment but this time it was his right arm. Luckily for us they casted it very well and he's still able to write. And I paid the little bit extra to have the waterproof Gore-Tex in there this time so at least the five weeks of cast time won't be as painful as the last time.

Enough Already!

Look, wasn't it enough that my BABY went to school? Did she have to go and lose teeth too??? What is with all this growing up stuff? A mom can only take so much here.

First one came out...


Then a second one. Now a third is loose.


"Mom, enough with the mouth pictures already."

First Day of School

Forgive me, I not only haven't been around much but I also forgot to post pics from the first day of school.

Hot Rod Mama

S3 has a plan. He is saving whatever money he makes babysitting for me and mowing grass and his birthday, Christmas and report card money and he is going to buy a car. Yes, my thirteen year old is already looking for a car. He figures he's got almost enough to buy an old junker and over the next three or four years slowly get it working and looking nice so that by the time he drives, he'll have a really nice car. I think it's a great idea for lots of reasons but I won't get into that because that's not what this post is about.

Yesterday he and I were daydreaming about his car. Sometimes we daydream about the make and model but yesterday we were discussing colors. I told him I thought he aught to paint his car a nice candy-apple red with black racing stripes. He said he didn't want a red car and when I asked him why he said, "Because the police look for red cars Mom."

I decided to tease him a little so I said, "Are you planning on breaking the law?"

He said, "No."

I said, "Then it shouldn't matter if you have a red car. They can look at your red car all they want as long as you're not doing anything wrong."

He looked at me and said, "Yeah, but what if you're driving it?"

Proud Mama Moment

I think it was before school started last year when Steve took G to get her back -to -school hair cut and she saw a young girl getting her hair cut off to donate to Locks of Love. Since that day, G has told me she wanted to grow her hair long in order to also be able to donate her hair. I thought that was so touching and I was amazed by her generous heart so I told her I would start to grow my hair and donate it along with her. Yesterday we went to the hairdresser and had them cut away ten inches of ponytail on both of us.

Two Quick Stories

I gotta run to a doctor's appointment in a minute but I have to tell you these two quick stories first.

Last night S3 had left for puppet practice (VBS this week at our church), the girls were at the table doing crafts and Ty was supposed to be doing some dishes in the kitchen. I was reading a book. At some point a hissing noise pierced my concentration on the book but it sounded to me like Ty was playing with the sink hose or something and I didn't think much of it. A few moments later G said, "What is that?!?" which completely pierced my concentration so I looked up. Oddly enough there was a flashing light accompanying the hissing noise in the kitchen. The girls and I went to investigate and found Ty quickly throwing a cup of water on something on the other side of the bar.

I looked down and there was a tiny blackened plastic cup and a huge puddle of water. I looked at Ty and said, "Ty did you set off a firework in my kitchen?"

Now mind you, the smoke in the kitchen is so thick I can hardly see him. The smell was overwhelming. There was a blackened cup sitting in a puddle of water on the counter and do you know what that child said to me?

"Sorta."

He sorta set off fireworks in my kitchen. Sorta.

-------------------------

Story two:
Last night after VBS the boys were really wound up so they were wrestling on my living room floor while E danced around them, giggling. At one point S3 had pinned Ty down and he called to E, "Give him a wedgie! Give him a wedgie!"

E turns to S3 and in a disgusted voice says, "Ewwww! I'm not touching his underwear!!!"

Summer is Kicking My Butt

Where have I been? I honestly don't know. Maybe it'll get better for a little bit now that baseball is done. S3's team ended their season 1 and 21. Yes, you read that right. One win, twenty-one losses. It was a looooooooong season. I have to say that it was the first year Exeter had a Prep Legion team and it was the first year our coaches have ever coached and it was a fact that we were not provided with a field to practice on but really this was a little ridiculous.

At first I didn't really have a problem with the way things were going. I fully expected our boys to pull together and improve; after all they are some of the best players in the area. But there was a distinct lack of morale which I think can be directly blamed on the coaches.

Baseballs sometimes come in large buckets. Our team had two such baseball buckets upon which our coaches perched through the entire game. Toward the end of the season the parental grumbling got louder and louder and I heard the phrases, "Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dumb" and "Frogs on Lilly Pads" and my personal favorite, "The Bucket Boys." We were informed about a fall league and I heard parents say their sons would not be playing if the same guys were going to be coaching. It was bad.

Anyway, Steve was home for a week and now he's gone again. I think he'll be home every other week now through August. I miss him but I'll be glad to hog all the pillows to myself. He had the most amazing compliment from one of the head-honchos at the place where he's been working. I would share more but I don't know how much is sensitive (large corporations can get touchy sometimes) but you gotta trust me on this one. I don't know that he's ever received such a compliment and he's gotten a lot of accolades over the years.

S3 went to camp two weeks ago and last week Ty and G went for a week. It was the first time any of them spent more than a night or two apart from me. Funny enough, I didn't really miss them too much and I don't think they missed me at all. They had a blast and they're looking forward to going again next year. I think that's a good sign.

Steve's grandmother's family had a reunion this past weekend. Although I've been married to this man for nearly 14 years and although I mail out Christmas cards to these folks semi-regularly, I've never actually met most of them. It was interesting. They were all very nice (it's obvious if you know Steve's grandmother at all that her family would be wonderful) but still I hid in the side yard with the kids and my BIL most of the day. I'm not as good in a crowd as I used to be.

What else have we done this summer? Hmmm. Well my BIL has nearly finished fixing up my back yard for me and I must say it looks gorgeous. He put in a teared veggie garden, did some major flower bed reconstruction, tore down my old fencing and put new up, made a bunny pen, mulched and even mowed a couple of times. He's wonderful. I've had Steve's sister and her family over for a few barbeque's to enjoy all their hard work but I don't think I'll ever be able to convey my gratitude properly. It's such a relief to have a beautiful haven in my back yard.

Speaking of bunnies, soon it'll be bunny shaving time. My sister's friend has angora clippers and she's said she'd come over and help me de-hair the hare. Being crazy spinner/weaver types they're both excited for the fiber. Mel had me laughing one of the last times she was over. Beck had shed a big clump of hair on my shirt and she was all excited about how well it {insert spinning/weaving term that I can't remember here} and then she started to twist and show me how strong the fibers are. We've decided she'll spin me some yarn and I'll crochet a scarf. Then I can really be the crazy bunny lady.

Ok I've babbled enough. Maybe I'll manage to post again but sooner than a month from now.

It's Official

On this very day, thirteen years ago, a little boy was placed in my arms for the very first time and I became a mother.

On this very day my baby takes his first big step into the teenaged years.


Thank you God for blessing us with thirteen years of joy. Here's to 100 more.

PS His baseball team won their first game today 7 - 6!!!

Day 5

Our last day to enjoy the parks... The kids wanted to go to Downtown Disney one last time so we did that in the morning. Steve spoiled them with fudge and chocolate covered marshmallows.


And then we skipped back over to MGM. This time we got a better hang of how to manage the crowds and use the fast pass to our greatest advantage and we got to see a couple of cool stunt shows and a couple of 3D shows.

I thought this was the coolest illusion. The buildings in the background are just painted.


Herbie was there!

We all got in line for a quick ride before we saw the car stunt show and just as we were getting ready to get on, E decided nature was calling and she couldn't ignore the phone so she and I skipped out to find a bathroom. When she discovered everyone had gotten on the ride without her, she bawled. She was inconsolable.

Steve and the kids got off the ride and met us for the stunt show and E promptly did this:

That explained all the crying. Poor Steve had to carry her up a million stairs... really, I wish I'd taken a picture of the stands. It was a lot to climb with an extra 50 lbs to carry. He was understandably a little hot by the time we got to our seats.


Maybe you can tell how high up it was by looking at the stage we were watching:


Anyway, after MGM we went back to the hotel for one last swim and to pack up. The next morning we headed out early for the airport. I think we all needed a week of sleep to catch up with all the sleep we gave up to play while we were there.


Hope you enjoyed our vacation! I know I sure did LOL!

Day 4

I'm sorry for the long delay between days. We got home and Steve left right away again and I'd been uploading pics to his laptop.

Friday we started out in MGM trying to take advantage of the EMH (extra magic hours) in the morning but other than the Tower of Terror, a Star Wars Parade and the High School Musical pep rally, we didn't get much done. It was hot and it was crowded. I think it was the hardest morning of our vacation.

We had reservations for lunch in Epcot with the Princesses so the girls got all dolled up and ready for their date.

Then it was off to MGM for a few hours. Now you might think I'm nuts for letting my baby ride the Tower of Terror but she did really well on Big Thunder Mountain and she really wanted to ride it so she did. Steve said she was fine when they dropped her the first time but then the ride goes back up and opens the doors so you can look out over all of MGM. He said she looked out those doors and it was like, "Ok, this is serious!" She cried when the ride was over and the entire rest of the vacation if anyone said, "Tower of Terror" she would go, "I don't want to ride the Tower of Terror! It was really scary!"


It was Star Wars Weekend in MGM so we were treated to a lot of Star Wars stuff, including a parade with storm troopers and Jedi Micki. Steve is a big Star Wars fan so he was thrilled.

This picture is for my sister. She knows why.

This was the worst moment of the vacation. I'm sure the girls loved it but it was HOT and it was PACKED with people. I didn't wear much makeup on vacation but by the end of this show what little bit I had on, melted off my face. Literally. It was HOT.

They invited the kids up to dance with the cast and I think E was the first one out of her seat.
Our Princess lunch was in Epcot so we gave up on MGM and hopped a bus on over there.


I don't remember what E was pouting about but I've titled this picture, "The saddest little princess in the land."


We had some time before lunch so we hit a few countries. The boys are watching a glass blower in Mexico.

We parted ways - the boys were off to find more adventurous rides - and sat down to wait for our lunch. They were running about a half hour behind in their reservations and while we waited, E fell asleep sitting completely upright. I pulled her down on my lap and she slept until our name was called.
At the table, waiting for the princesses to appear.

All the princesses were there. We saw Belle, Jasmine, Ariel, Aurora, Cinderella and Snow White. I won't bore you with all the pics we took but Cinderella is our favorite and Snow White was the best Snow White I've ever seen. She even sounded like the girl in the movie.



After that we went to the hotel for a couple of hours and then hit Magic Kingdom to take advantage of the EMH there. We saw the electric light parade and the fireworks and then we rode a bunch of rides until about two in the morning. Yes, you read that right. Two A.M. It was awesome because during the day you'd stand in lines and even with the fast passes you'd maybe only get three or four rides in but at night the crowds are down by probably 3/4 of what they were during the day and there isn't a single thing we waited longer than ten or twenty minutes to ride.